


Paved with Good Intentions

by hmweasley



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: Angst, Brotherhood, Gen, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Compliant, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Siblings, Trans Female Character, Vomiting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-06
Updated: 2019-08-06
Packaged: 2020-08-10 21:37:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20142376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hmweasley/pseuds/hmweasley
Summary: James teased Albus. That was how their relationship worked, and as far as James was concerned, their relationship was going fine. Then Albus is sorted into Slytherin, and James doesn't know what to believe anymore.





	Paved with Good Intentions

**Author's Note:**

> Felicia isn't explicitly stated to be trans in this story, but she's an OC who I've written before, and she is.
> 
> Also, this is meant to be Cursed Child compliant. However, it's been a long time, and I don't have my copy of the script to double check details. I'm sorry if anything is off.
> 
> Prompts:  
(dialogue) "I'm really glad you're here, [name]."  
(quote) "If you're always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be." - Maya Angelou.  
Write about someone reaping what they sow.  
(word) burn  
(character) James Sirius Potter  
(relationship) siblings  
Write about an oldest sibling.  
(emotions) anger, terror, fear  
(action) crying  
Write about fixing something (can be an item or a relationship or whatever else you can think of).

“James, you look like someone killed your owl or something. Relax.”

James took his time to look at Roxanne where she sat next to him in the Gryffindor common room, milking the moment for dramatic effect.

“I can’t believe it,” he said for the millionth time since that evening’s sorting ceremony. “It was supposed to be a joke. He wasn’t supposed to actually be a Slytherin.”

He spit out ‘Slytherin’ like it was a nasty taste in his mouth, which made Roxanne roll her eyes. She shared a look with Fred, who shrugged in response. He may have been quieter about it, but he was also shocked that one of their own could wind up in Slytherin of all places. Only Roxanne appeared not to care in the slightest.

“He was never going to be a Gryffindor,” she said with confidence. “I thought maybe Hufflepuff like Victoire and Teddy, but you know… Slytherin makes sense in hindsight.”

“Makes sense,” James mocked with a snort. “He’s a Potter, and he’s in Slytherin.”

Roxanne shoved him into the arm of the sofa, not holding back. James glared at her as he rubbed at the arm that had been pinned between him and the sofa.

“You’ve got to stop talking like he’s developed some incurable disease,” Roxanne said. “So what if he’s in Slytherin? Maybe it’ll do their house some good if they have people like him. It’s not like he’s going to become a Death Eater.”

“No,” Fred said with a smirk, the first sign of amusement he’d shown since dinner. “Of course not. He only joined their training ground. Becoming a Death Eater just wouldn’t be the logical next step.”

Roxanne was even less kind to Fred than James when she gave him a hard kick in the shin.

“He didn’t.” After pointed looks from both boys, she rolled her eyes. “Okay. Sure, Slytherin’s had that reputation in the past, but not all Slytherins are bad. At least not these days. Nikki Cunningham is in Slytherin, and she’s a Muggleborn. Things are changing, and Albus will be a part of that.”

“Did you see him with Malfoy?” James asked, leaning forward as if his words were too scandalous to be overheard by their housemates. “They were getting along pretty well, weren’t they? What are we supposed to make of that?”

“Are you implying that Malfoy will seduce him into the Dark Arts or something, James? Because that would be ridiculous. We’ve never even talked to the kid. Maybe he isn’t that bad. He nearly tripped over his own robes when he was sorted. He seems anxious more than anything.”

“You heard what Rose said about him.”

He tugged on the ends of his hair, making it stand up straight.

“Yeah,” Roxanne said with a laugh. “And she was only angry because he was a Malfoy. You heard her. She hardly said five words to the kid before she wrote him off. That doesn’t tell us anything. Aunt Audrey used to work with his mum at the Ministry, and she said that Astoria Malfoy was really nice.”

Before James could give a retort, Fred spoke up, his face set in a frown.

“She only mentioned her because she was surprised she’d married someone as nasty as Draco Malfoy. You do remember that he was a Death Eater, right?”

“So?” Roxanne said. “That still means that Scorpius’s mum was different from the Malfoys before, and she raised Scorpius. He could be a decent person. All I’m saying is that we have no idea. I think you’re getting too worked up about this. It doesn’t matter if Albus is a Slytherin. He’s still Albus. He can’t even kill a spider without crying.”

“Maybe this is his way of rebelling,” Fred said to James, tuning out his twin. “He could have tricked the Sorting Hat into putting him in Slytherin as an attention thing. That makes sense right? It’s something that Al would do.”

James forehead creased as he considered the idea. He thought about the overthetop reactions he’d gotten when he’d teased Albus about possibly being a Slytherin once he got to Hogwarts, words that had only been meant as a joke. They’d been funny because Albus had been truly scared of the idea, and his brother had never been a good actor.

“I don’t think so,” he said slowly. “He was terrified of being in Slytherin. There’s no way he faked all of that. But, then, I guess I don’t know him at all if he got sorted into bloody Slytherin.”

“If he really was upset about the idea before, then he might be really sad now,” Roxanne said quietly. “He knows you’ll be pissed about it, James. He must feel terrible. The Slytherin dungeons are meant to be cold and scary, and he’s down there knowing that we must be talking about him.”

She shivered, staring into the empty fire crate in front of them.

A twinge of guilt made James squirm in his seat, but he pushed it aside. His comments had only been meant in good fun. Albus knew that. Sure, he didn’t like that his brother was in Slytherin, but he wasn’t going to shun him from the family or something ridiculous like that. Albus knew that. He’d be fine.

“It’s fine,” he muttered to himself, though he wasn’t sure if he was referring to Albus or himself. “Let’s play some Exploding Snap,” he said suddenly, pushing thoughts of his brother aside.

* * *

A week passed before James found Albus in a corridor and was able to speak with him. It was a week of Albus avoiding him, of fleeing the Slytherin table anytime James took a step in that direction. But James was used to such behavior from his brother, and it didn’t deter him from his mission.

“Hey, Al!” he called gaining looks from other students walking by and a scowl from his brother, who whispered something to Scorpius Malfoy and pushed him to continue down the corridor before James reached them.

“How’re the snakes treating you?” James asked without waiting for a greeting. He eyed Scorpius as he disappeared around the corner, their eyes meeting for a second before the blond disappeared from view. In that moment, Scorpius flushed, and James briefly considered that perhaps Roxanne had been right when she said they had little to fear from him, not that James would admit as much out loud.

He leaned against the wall and crossed his arms against his chest as he looked at his brother. He hardly noticed the other students watching them, but Albus’s posture was thick as his eyes continuously flicked between the lingering students and his older brother.

“It’s fine,” Albus said quietly, averting his gaze to his shoes, which he shuffled together.

When he didn’t elaborate further, James smirked and leaned in close to whisper.

“They’re not giving you crap, are they? I wouldn’t mind beating up a few snakes—”

“I’m a snake,” Albus said, his voice rising and his eyes meeting James’s for the first time. They sparked with fire that made James lean back. “You can’t just go around threatening to beat up Slytherins when they haven’t done anything.”

“That’s not what I meant,” James said with a frown. “What I said was that, if they were giving me a hard time—”

“The only one giving me a hard time right now is you. Leave me alone, James.”

James gaped at Albus, not sure what to make of his reaction. Their relationship had always consisted of James teasing Albus and Albus getting worked up in return, but there was a new fire in Albus’s voice that James hadn’t expected. In the past, their arguments frequently escalated until one of their parents intervened, but James had always been sure that Albus knew it was only a joke at the end of the day.

When they looked at each other in that corridor, a Slytherin badge emblazoned to Albus’s robes, that wasn’t what it felt like at all. Something about Slytherin had already made Albus fiercer and more eager to fight.

“Relax,” James said with a scowl of his own. “I’m not going to touch anyone if you don’t want me to. I just wanted to help, but I know when I’m not wanted.”

Despite his words, he didn’t go to leave as he stood and waited for Albus to make the next move. He hoped that Albus would admit that he didn’t want James gone, and he came close when he laid into him further instead of forcing him away.

“You think you’re so perfect in Gryffindor,” he ranted, waving his arms around to emphasize the words. He had finally forgotten about the other students, a few of which still lingered nearby. “Why do you think your house is so great? You go on and on about how awesome you are, but people only like you because of Dad. That’s all it is. Why do you have to make them stare even more? No one in Slytherin cares about that. Not all of us need people watching us all the time like they’re waiting for something.”

James stared at Albus in shock before letting out a loud laugh.

“Are you alright, Al? What are you on about?”

“Leave me alone,” Albus said in a low voice filled with anger.

James held his hands up in surrender and backed away, a smirk on his lips.

“Fine,” he said with a shrug. “I’ll come back when someone’s managed to calm down.”

He turned and walked away, listening to Albus growl in frustration and feeling satisfied despite the situation. 

His worst fears had been confirmed. Slytherin really was influencing Albus for the worst. He rubbed a hand across his brow. Screw Roxanne and everything she’d said. He knew his brother better than anyone, and he knew he had just lost him.

* * *

“Hey, James!”

James stopped mid-laughter and turned from his friends to Olivia McDonald, a fellow Gryffindor who was a year above him. She dropped down into the only empty seat left in the small alcove James and his cousins had claimed.

“You know what I realized?” she asked, continuing before anyone could respond. “You’re practically a Slytherin, what with your brother and all.”

James rolled his eyes.

“Shut it, Olivia. You know that’s not true. It doesn’t work like that.”

His defense did nothing to erase the smirk from her lips.

“You’d better hope not,” she said. “Imagine if both Harry Potter’s sons became dark wizards. Wizarding Britain wouldn’t know what to do with itself.”

James scowled. Her first comment had annoyed him, but he hadn’t really cared. The second one left anger coursing through his veins, and his tone was icy when he responded.

“Albus isn’t a dark wizard. He’s my brother.”

Olivia knew that she’d struck a nerve, and she took joy in it as she laughed again.

“Well, yeah, but he’s also a Slytherin, right? They churn out dark wizards like one of those Muggle factories.”

“Albus. Isn’t. A. Dark. Wizard,” James bit out, leaning forward and narrowing his eyes in a silent challenge for Olivia to continue the argument.

Her smile lessened, but she didn’t admit defeat as she shrugged again.

“Not yet maybe,” she said. “I’m only saying that he could be one day, being in Slytherin. It’s not far-fetched.”

James laughed.

“Albus couldn’t perform dark magic even if he wanted to. If he tried to join up with some rogue Death Eaters, they’d probably kick him out after seeing him perform Wingardium Leviosa.”

“Oh,” Olivia said, regaining some of her earlier confidence, “so you just think he’s too incompetent to be a dark wizard? That I’d believe.”

“No,” James shot back. “That’s not what I meant.”

Sure, he loved to tease Albus about his lack of magical skills to get a rise out of him, but it was only a joke. It certainly wasn’t something that others were allowed to say seriously, whether to Albus’s face or behind his back.

“He’s a million times better at magic than you’ll ever be, McDonald,” he said, though he couldn’t recall having seen her do much magic at all. “Maybe you should focus on your own spellwork instead of going around accusing people of being dark wizards.”

Olivia scowled at him, and he knew he’d hit a nerve that went deeper than he could have guessed. She rushed to stand, towering over him with her hands on her hips.

“It was only a joke. You don’t need to get worked up about it.”

Without another glance over her shoulder, she stormed up the staircase to the girls’ dormitories. James watched until she’d disappeared before turning back to his cousins with a scowl on his face. They were both watching him with frowns.

“Unbelievable,” he muttered. “Can you believe some people?”

Fred and Roxanne shared a look before Fred shifted uneasily in his chair.

“I don’t know, James,” he said. “She didn’t say anything that you haven’t said a million times before. I don’t know why you got so angry.”

“Are you kidding me?” James asked, his voice rising dangerously high. “Did you hear what she said about Albus?”

“Yeah,” Roxanne said with a slight laugh. “We heard her, and I, personally, think it’s nice that you stood up for Al, but Fred’s right. You’ve been saying all the same stuff she did since before Albus even got to Hogwarts.”

A surge of indignation left James sputtering.

“That was all just a joke,” he declared, confident in his innocence.

“Yeah, but Olivia was joking too, mate,” Fred said, patting James on the shoulder. “Everyone says that Slytherins will go dark. That’s the way it is. It’s never bothered you before.”

James, pouting, turned away from his cousins and crossed his arms against his chest. He stared at a scratch on a frame of a portrait that hung on the wall, oblivious to the figure in the portrait staring back at him in discomfort.

It hadn’t felt like Olivia was joking when she said all those things about Al whereas he knew that every single joke he’d made over the years had been made in good fun and harmless. Olivia’s supposed joke was different. He’d been able to imagine his little brother being called a dark wizard and felt the full weight of such an accusation. It was nothing like what he’d said.

He refused to so much as look at his cousins for the next hour out of indignation.

* * *

James rapped his hand against the bedroom door but opened it before Albus gave him permission to enter.

“Hey, Al—”

“James!” Albus shouted, shooting off his bed where he’d been reading a letter (almost certainly from Scorpius Malfoy) that he’d received at breakfast that morning. “Get out of my room! You can’t barge into people’s personal space without permission.”

James backed into the hallway holding his hands up.

“Okay, okay,” he muttered, unable to stop a small chuckle from escaping his lips. “I’m outside. Calm down. I only wanted to see if you were up for a game of Quidditch.”

Albus scowled as he sat back down on the edge of his bed, his arms crossed against his chest.

“Quidditch?” he said with distaste. “No thanks.”

“Ah, come on,” James whined. “It’s been ages since we’ve played together.”

“Because I hate it,” Albus said, his nose scrunching in disgust. “It’s a terrible game. Get Lily to play with you.”

“Lily’s at Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione’s. Besides, you’ve been holed up in here for days. Don’t you want a life outside your bedroom this summer?”

Albus didn’t respond. He was staring at the letter that was still clutched in his hands, though his eyes weren’t moving.

“Al,” James tried again, stepping back into the room. “Please.”

“No!” Albus shouted, shooting to his feet again. “Get out, James! I don’t want you in my room. Why can’t you leave me alone? You always have to be a prick.”

Before James could defend himself, Ginny appeared in the doorway, fire in her own eyes as she rushed to stand between them.

“What’s going on here?” she demanded, looking sternly between them with her hands on her hips.

James inwardly groaned, knowing that she would take Albus’s side no matter how strongly he asserted that he hadn’t meant any harm when he’d come in the room.

“James won’t leave me alone,” Albus grumbled, his fists clenched tightly as he glared at his brother.

Ginny’s fiery gaze focused on James, who shrugged. He’d become very good at hiding how easily his mother intimidated him after years of punishments.

“I only want to play Quidditch, but he won’t play.”

Ginny closed her eyes for a few seconds. James could see her mentally count to ten before she opened her eyes again.

“Your brother doesn’t have to play if he doesn’t want to, James. You have to respect his boundaries. If he wants you to leave him alone, then you have to leave him alone.”

James huffed and stomped his feet against the ground as he left the room.

“All I wanted was to play Quidditch,” he said loud enough for them to hear as he disappeared into his room.

* * *

James stared into the fire, his arms crossed against his chest. He was so lost in his own thoughts that he didn’t hear his girlfriend approaching until she nudged him in the shoulder.

When he looked at her, he couldn’t help but smile. She stroked his cheekbone with her thumb as she cuddled into his side.

“You look grumpy today,” she commented, wrapping her arms around his abdomen.

James let his head fall to her shoulder with a sigh.

“It’s Al,” he muttered. “I tried to talk to him today, and he just walked away. There wasn’t even an insult or anything. Just silence. I don’t know what I did.”

Felicia laughed softly, jostling James with the movement.

“I admit I don’t know him well, since he basically wants nothing to do with me, but isn’t your brother always grumpy? I wouldn’t worry about it. It’s probably just some teenager phase or something. He’ll get over it eventually.”

James wanted to believe her, but he couldn’t. She didn’t know Al like he did. She didn’t know the years they’d spent playing with each other every day despite the frequent arguments. She couldn’t know how jarring it was for his little brother to not want to speak to him at all.

“I doubt it,” he said with a scoff. “He hardly ever talks to me anymore, and even when he does, he yells. He’s always just mad at me no matter what I do.”

“He’s mad because you push his buttons though, isn’t he?” Felicia asked. “I thought that was what you were trying to do.”

James drew back far enough to look at her face, surprised to see her watching him with one eyebrow raised.

“I tease him, sure,” James said, “but I’m not mean or anything.”

Felicia bit her lip to stop a laugh from breaking free.

“Does Albus know that? Because it kind of seems like he doesn’t. Maybe that’s why he’s always pissed off with you.”

James scowled.

“Who’s side are you on?” he asked.

He pulled away from her slightly with a pout, but Felicia followed him, nuzzling into his neck.

“Of course I’m on your side. I’m just trying to look at the whole picture. I love your goofiness and how you tease everyone, but maybe Albus doesn’t. It certainly seems like he doesn’t. If you want him to stop being angry with you, maybe you should stop teasing him. You reap what you sow and all that, right?”

James stared into the fireplace as he debated Felicia’s words. They made sense, but he’d been teasing Albus for as long as he could remember. He had no idea how to interact with his brother without it. It wasn’t as if he could just walk up to him with a hug and an “I love you.” That wasn’t how things worked between them. Teasing was their love language, if they had one of those. Sure, Albus had been angry with him nonstop for a couple of years, but anger had always kind of been their language too, even if it hadn’t been exactly the same.

“I don’t know how to do that,” he said, unable to look Felicia in the eye.

His girlfriend pressed herself closer, rubbing her hand along his arm and pressing a kiss to his cheek as they fell into a comfortable silence.

* * *

James’s ears rang as he pushed forward, not taking his eyes off the two Gryffindors a year below him who were the target of his ire.

“I heard you were bullying my brother,” he said, stepping forward to back them against the wall of the corridor.

They held their hands up, but the smirks on both of their faces revealed that neither of them was particularly sorry for what they’d done.

“Relax, mate,” the taller one, Tori, said. She shared a smile with the brunette boy, Wilson, who was her partner in crime. “We’re only bothering a Slytherin. That’s our Gryffindor duty, isn’t it?”

James narrowed his eyes, putting all of his anger into that look.

“It’s no one’s duty to insult my brother,” he said. “Leave him alone.”

Wilson laughed, not put off in the slightest by James’s threats.

“What Slytherin can’t even fight his own battles?” he asked. “You’re here threatening us for him. Are Slytherins that big of cowards?”

In a rush of anger, James shoved Wilson into the wall and pinned him there with an arm against his chest.

“Albus doesn’t know I’m doing this. If he did, you’d better believe he’d stop me. But I’m not going to sit around while you treat my little brother like shit. He hasn’t done anything to you.”

Wilson looked angry for the first time. He opened his mouth, but Tori put a hand on his arm before he spoke.

“It’s not worth it,” she said. “Don’t get yourself beaten up over a stupid Slytherin. Let’s go.”

Wilson and James stared each other down as James took a step backward, freeing the other boy to escape. Wilson and Tori hurried down the corridor, tossing glares over their shoulders as they went.

James stared back until they were out of sight.

* * *

While James’s years at Hogwarts had yielded a number of trips to the headmistress’ office, he was confused as he hurried there with Lily at his side.

He hadn’t done anything punishment worthy in at least a week, and he certainly hadn’t done anything with his little sister as an accomplice, but Kevin Coleman had assured them both that they had to go as quickly as possible, and not even the seventh year prefect had any idea why. 

For once, James was nervous when he knocked on McGonagall’s door, and the voice that responded, not as sharp as usual, made him shiver before he’d seen who was in the room.

Pushing the door open, his eyes landed not on McGonagall but on his parents, who stood in front of the headmistress’ desk looking more worn than James had ever seen them.

“Mummy! Daddy!” Lily cried, hurrying across the room and wrapping Harry in a hug before James had even processed that his parents were actually there.

Lily laughed with excitement, but James had immediately noticed the dark bags under his father’s eyes and the tight set of his mother’s lips. Even McGonagall, when he got around to looking at her, looked as if she needed a good night’s sleep.

“What’s going on?” James asked, his voice quivering.

He had yet to step into the office, deciding to instead hover in the doorway as if he’d be eaten alive if he moved.

Harry and Ginny shared a look. Harry inhaled sharply, and Lily pulled away from their embrace with a frown, finally detecting that her parents hadn’t come for a simple chat. After a second of opening and closing his mouth, Harry gave up trying to produce words and hung his head. Ginny stepped forward, placing a hand on her husband’s back and speaking for the both of them.

“It’s your brother,” she said, tears choking her voice. “Albus and Scorpius Malfoy got ahold of an illegal Time Turner. They’re trapped in time.”

Lily let out a cry, clutching Harry tighter, but James still couldn’t move as his mind scrambled to make sense of his mother’s words.

There weren’t any more Time Turners. They’d been destroyed years ago. And Albus was the last person who’d try to use one even if he could have. At least, that’s what James would have thought.

“When’s he coming back?” James asked, voice trembling. “That’s how Time Turners work, right? They send you back after a certain amount of time.”

The adults shared a look that chilled James to his core. Tears pricked at his eyes, and his whole body shook as he waited for someone to confirm what little information on Time Turners he remembered from his classes. When neither of his parents spoke, McGonagall did.

“Usually, that is how they work, Mr Potter. Unfortunately, your brother and Mr Malfoy aren’t alone. We believe they’ve been taken back in time deliberately, and we do not know how to get them back.”

James doubled over and deposited his lunch onto the floor.

* * *

James hurried down the corridor as fast as his feet would carry him. If he came across a professor or prefect, he would get a detention, but it didn’t matter. Whispers had made their way to Gryffindor tower, and he had to see if they were true, whether McGonagall had summoned him yet or not.

The second he caught up to Albus, he somehow found the strength to move even faster. He threw his arms around his brother, not noticing Scorpius Malfoy hovering awkwardly beside them. He only stayed for a few seconds before slipping off unnoticed.

Albus, who had been on his way to the Slytherin dungeons to sleep for what he hoped would be an entire year, was startled by the sudden attack and froze for several seconds before regaining his awareness enough to push his brother off of him.

“What are you doing?” Albus snapped, backing into the wall.

James let out a laugh that only alarmed Albus further.

“I thought you were as good as dead!” James exclaimed, throwing his arms into the air. “You got lost in time. You were gone as if you’d never existed. We all cried over you and tried to accept you might never come back. Then suddenly you’re here, and you don’t even think to go tell your brother that you’re okay? Do you have any idea how fucking terrified I was, Al? Did you care at all?”

Albus scowled. His back was still pressed against the corridor wall as if James were a scary monster who was going to attack him at any moment.

“Why would you care?” he asked. “You never have before.”

James gaped at him.

“Why would you say that?” he said, letting out another short laugh. “You’re my little brother. Of course I care.”

Albus’s eyes narrowed, and he pushed himself off the wall to point his finger at James’s chest as he spoke.

“All you’ve done since we were little is make fun of me,” he pointed out, his voice packed with a bitterness that shocked James even years later. “Whenever I wanted to play Quidditch with you, you’d remind me that I wasn’t any good at it. You always tried to pawn me off on the other team, but they didn’t want me either. Then I started Hogwarts, and I was the embarrassing Slytherin brother.”

“I never called you embarrassing,” James shot back.

He wasn’t entirely sure he was correct. It was possible that he had called Albus embarrassing but hadn’t bothered to remember it. Even if he had, it had been a joke, not something meant to cause offense like Albus was presenting it.

“Sure, I teased you,” James continued, “but it was all for a laugh, Al. None of it was serious. You weren’t supposed to get worked up about it. It’s just what we do.”

“It’s what you do. I never asked for any of it.”

James backed away from the force of Albus’s answer, his mouth hanging open. When others had pointed out the same thing to him in the past, he’d brushed their concerns aside and insisted that they didn’t understand the terms of his and Al’s relationship, which he’d always considered firmly understood until Albus had ripped the carpet out from under him in his first year.

“I’m sorry,” James said quietly, his throat beginning to burn. He could viscerally remember how it had felt to think Albus was dead, and he couldn’t bring himself to defend anything he’d done no matter how he’d felt at the time.

“Don’t.”

Albus took several frantic steps away from James, waving his hands in front of himself and shaking his head.

“Don’t get weirdly emotional,” he said. “I don’t need you crying on me.”

James swallowed, doing his best to force his tears down with it. It didn’t work. The tears snaked their way down his cheeks as he spoke.

“What do you want me to do? You don’t want me to tease you, but you don’t want me to be nice. How am I supposed to win here, Al? By never talking to you at all?”

The silence was as good of an answer as any words. James laughed darkly, running a hand through his hair.

“No,” he said decisively. “I’m not going to let you pretend that things would be better if we never talked to each other again.

Albus sprung to life as if he’d been burned, his face contorting in anger.

“Would it really be different from the last four years?” he asked, his hands balled into fists. “It’s not like you’ve cared all that much. We might as well make it formal and decide not to speak to each other ever again.”

James stared at Albus, hoping his anger would dissipate, but it didn’t.

“I have tried talking to you,” James stressed, “but you kept pushing me away. Maybe that’s because of my teasing. I’m sorry if it was. That isn’t what I meant by it, and I won’t do it anymore if you don’t want me to.”

“No,” Albus whined, squirming where he stood. “That’s not you. That’s not James. Stop. You’re freaking me out.”

Despite the situation, James had to laugh.

“You’re really sending me mixed signals here. All I’m trying to do is do what you want me to.”

“But why?” Albus whined.

“I thought you were dead.”

James placed careful emphasis on each word.

“Dead,” he repeated, some of his earlier anxiety rearing its head again.

His mind kept conjuring images of Albus and Scorpius facing death with only each other. He couldn’t think about it without bile rising in his throat. He pushed away the thoughts and refocused on his brother, very much alive and safe in front of him despite what he’d been through, and he didn’t much care whether he ever teased Albus again as long as he got through to him.

“I never meant for you to take it personally,” James said. “You being put in Slytherin was a shock, yeah, but I think I get it now. And if I made you feel bad about it, I’m sorry. It was never meant to be anything but a laugh, and I thought you knew that. I’m not embarrassed by you. Truth be told, you being a Slytherin made things more interesting. If you were trying to be a normal Gryffindor, you wouldn’t be Albus, and I think Albus is quite cool at the end of the day. I certainly don’t want to never speak again. Okay? I just want my little brother to be okay.”

Albus didn’t respond. He stared at the floor for a moment before James heard a small sniffle that he tried to hide. With the smallest of smiles, James closed the gap between them, hesitating for only a moment before he wrapped his arms around Albus. 

Though he didn’t hug James back, he didn’t protest against the show of affection either, standing there in James’s arms for several minutes as they tried to process not just their conversation but everything Albus had been through. It was more than James could imagine because, when he tried, all his brain gave him in response was terror.

“I’m really glad you’re here, Al, and no more teasing,” James said earnestly, patting Albus on the back several times before pulling away. “I promise.”

Not expecting a response, he turned to walk away, but Albus stopped him.

“Uh, James?”

James turned around to find Albus rubbing at the back of his neck. His gaze was on the floor again, but he’d stopped crying.

“Maybe you can tease me sometimes,” Albus said quietly, though he sounded reluctant. “You being nice is a little too weird for me to handle.”

James laughed and saluted Albus.

“Whatever you want, little brother,” he concluded before leaving him behind, content with the knowledge that he was safe and sound.


End file.
